Friday, July 25, 2014

Taking Sides on Israel/Palestine Is Stupid

Posted on DelawareLiberal on July 25, 2014 by ProgressivePopulist

I've been struggling with commentary on the current Gaza apocalypse
and finally discovered my truth about it. Taking sides is dumb and
totally misses both history and possible solutions.
This endless
terrifying conflict is no one's fault and everyone's fault. No one in
the sense that blame cannot be placed with one party. That would really
simplify solutions if that singular blame could be found. It belongs
to all of us: Palestinians, Israelis and the international community.

I
find the latest round of rallies for one side or another,including
right here in Delaware, utterly pointless and unproductive. Front
page of the DL on 07/25. They just exacerbate the tragedy and rage.

In
the blame sphere, let's start with the international community. The
1947 partitioning, taking the region out of the hands of colonial
Britain and putting it in the hands of the neophyte U.N. was stupid.
Stupidity driven by international guilt for permitting the holocaust and
abandoning European Jews. The U.N. then was simply unprepared to
properly consult with the existing Palestinian people in preparing for
the Partitioning, if it was to make sense at all. Unprepared to support
the relocation and settlement of the European and Middle Eastern Jews
relocating to the region, and protect the existing residents from
destabilization of their communities and provide appropriate
international funding to help create a peaceful transformation of the
area. The result? Jews had to fight their way in and in doing so
displaced 700,000 Arabs relegated to refugee camps still existing today
and housing 7 million Arabs in not so hospitable neighboring Arab
countries.

Now for blame within the Palestinian and Arab
communities. The remaining residents simply failed to secure or provide
the resources necessary to build a viable economy to sustain its people
to provide a hopeful future and create a government which could provide
adequate services. This led to generations of frustrated and angry
Palestinians who spent their energies building hostility and ultimately
many rounds of armed conflict with an emerging, supported and prospering
Israel. Their main focus became destroying Israel rather than
building a sustainable society. Palestinian support for right wing,
theocratic war makers making their policy undermined their society
building needs. And failing to recognize that their hostility only
energized the worldwide Jewish community to "never again" endure the
apocalypse brought upon them by Fascists and the Catholic Church.

As
for blame for Israel? Plenty too. a 47 year occupation, initially
justified right after the war of 1967, just was totally
counterproductive. It bred antagonism, hatred and distrust, not
security from attack. It created attack after endless attack. To add
insult to injury, the Zionist settlements, populated by people thinking
they had some kind of divine right to be squatters in Palestine. And
these squatters bred more generations of haters whose abuse and
resulting dysfunction created a continuing security threat, not a
peaceful neighbor. Israelis forgot their own history of abuse at the
hands of Europeans and their need to escape. They had a place to which
to escape at the expense of the indigenous Palestinians; the
Palestinians had no escape routes. These are really smart people. Why
didn't they get that?

So, how then can we expect two highly
dysfunctional societies to solve their own problem and make peace? One a
huge, prosperous, fear filled bully. The other a smaller, raging
victim with no leverage or options. I think the answer may be that this
is an impossible expectation. The solution lies in some form of
international peace making intervention.

Maybe the U.N. is not up
to the task. Perhaps some kind of task force of diplomats from the Arab
League and NATO, with U.N. Peacekeepers on the ground. What are your
ideas?

About Me

Moved to Wilmington, Delaware in mid-2013. Resided in Houston, Texas for 45 years. A widower, married Julie Jackson in 2007. Retired as a hospital marketing consultant in 2001.Have been a Democratic Party political activist for most of my adult life, organizing and mobilizing for the Party and its candidates. Consider myself a progressive populist. Early career included running communications for 35 campaigns. Have formed and led committees dealing with voter mobilization and precinct organizing, counter voter suppression and strategy.Co-founded the Progressive Populist Caucus of the Texas Democratic Party. Have served on the Texas Democratic Party Platform Committee numerous times. Also an active organizer for the anti-war movement since Vietnam and was active in the civil rights movement.